Furniture-caster.



C. F. LAUN.

FURNITURE GASTBR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1911.

Patented June 11, 1912.

I177 ORNEY STATES PATENT -oniuron.

CHRISTIAN IE. LAlTN, 'OF 'WATERVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0 BERBECKER &-

ROWLAND MANUFACTURING coMrnNY, or WATERVlL-LE, coulvncrrour', A. son- POBATION OF CONNECTICUT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed November 4, 1911. Serial No. 658,518.

FURNITURE-CASTEB.

Patented June 11, 1912.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN F, LAUN, a citizen of .the United States, and a resident of l/Vaterville, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have made and invented certain new andvuseful Improvements in Furniture-Casters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in furniture casters, and more particularly to that type or style thereof commonly known to the trade and public as furni-.

ture glides, and comprising a shell of metal in the form of a hollow sector of a sphere and provided with means whereby to attach it to the leg of a chair or other article of furniture. Heretof'ore these glides have been generally made from one piece of metal the upturned peripheral flange being provided with teeth or spurs to be forced into the wood of the article with which they are .used and so secure it in place. Certain objections, however, have been urged against this structure, particularly that of the'liability of splitting the wood to which the article is'att-ached, in that the teeth or spurs must necessarily be of suiiicient size in order to penetrate the wood to a considerable dis tance in order to prevent the glide from becoming disengaged from the article of fur niture. Furthermore, the article being made of glass-hardened .metal, the peripheral teeth or spurs are necessarily very brittle, and oftentimes break or crack off in the operation of driving them into the furniture, particularly when constructed of hard wood. In order to overcome these objections, it has been attempted to construct the glide with a central nail projecting from the concave side thereof, the teeth or spurs on therimof the glide being formed'of such size only as to slightly penetrate the wood in order to prevent it from turning, the central nail be mg relied upon for securing the glide in place. Th is form of glide, however, has only expansion and contraction of the different metals used for the nail and dome. 'If the shell be hardened or tempered prior to securing the nail thereto, it is found'to be diflicult, if not impossible, to upset the metal of the shell around the nail in order to hold the latter in position. 1

-It is thepurpose of my invent-ion to overcome these objections and to produce a glide wherein the central nail may be utilized for securing the article in place and at the same time employ a cup or shell of hardened or tempered metal, the completed glide comprising novel details of construction herein-' after described and pointed out in the claim.

In-the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of the shell during one stage of its formation, and prior to being after being properly bent or shaped, and

prior to having the attaching nail secured thereto; Fig. 6 1s a sectional view of the spanner-washer taken on the line 66'of Fig. .5, and showing-theattaching nail see cured thereto. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the glide, the parts being shown partlallyassembled; Fig. 8 1s a similar view thereof showing theparts fully assembled; Fig. 9 is a bottom plan View of a modified form of the spanner-washer shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 10 1s a sectional view of another form of spanner-washer having-the central attaching nail secured thereto. Fig. 11 shows the spanner-washer of Fig. 10 partially assembled with the shell, and Fig. 12 is a similar view showing these partsfully assembled.

By reference to these drawings it will be seen that my improved glide comprises three parts, viz., an outer shell, a contained spanner-washer, and a securing nail attached to the latter, the outer shell being first formed as shown in Fig. 1, that is, of a cup-shaped disk 13 having a straight peripheral flange 14. This shell is then, by means of suitable dies or other tools, converted into the shape as illustrated in- Fig. 2, that is, with inturned locking flange 15, whereby, as hereinafter described, tosegurely lock the spanner-washer in place. This outer shell or cup is made of such steel or other metal as can-beglass-hardened in order to impart outer edge of the same to be thereto the desirable wear resisting ualities, this step in the manufacture o the article occurring after the outer shell has been properly and completely shaped as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

The spanner-washer, preferably formed from soft or mild steel, is first blanked out as illustrated in Fig. 4, that is, with the V- shaped parts 16,'subsequently converted into spurs or teeth, the metal between the parts 16 and armsl? being cut away, and with a central opening 18, this hole or opening for the reception of the headed end of the attaching nail being formed by forcing a proper tool through the 1 metal as distinguished from cutting the metal out toform the same, the bur formed around the opening being utilized for assisting in holding the nail 19 in place. After the formation of the blank as illustrated in Fig. 4, it is then shaped as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, that is, the V-shaped parts 16 are bent downwardly to form the teeth or spurs20, the arms 17 being provided with an elevated ridge or flute 21 somewhat decreasin the diameter of the washer. The nail 19 1s assembled with this washer and securely locked thereto, the bur around the central opening in the washer assisting in securing the nail tightly inposition as before described, the

7 completed spanner-washer being illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. In'assembling the parts thus formed, the spanner-washer is placed within the outer cup or shell, and securely locked thereto by flattening out the ridge or flute 21, the diameter oft-he washer-being thereby increased and causing the extreme locked and held within the inturned flange 15 of the outer shell, and practically forming a solid glide,

, as illustrated in Fig. 8.

Itwill of course be understood that several changes or variations might be made in the form of the spanner-washer, as, for instance, as shown in Fig. 9, but three teeth or spurs 22 may be formed, instead of four, as illustrated in Fig. 4. While the number of teeth may be increased or decreased as desired, I have in practice found that three are preferable. Furthermore, instead of cutting away the metal adjacent the teeth as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the V-shaped portions 23 may be cut out of the washer between the teeth. Again, instead of forming a ridge or flute in the spanner-washer as above describedhit may beconstructed as illustrated in Figs. 10, 11 and 12, that is, of

a disk-like portion 24 with an inturned any desired thickness, two or three times thethickness of theordinary. glide if so desired, imparting thereto a correspondingly longer life. The teeth or prongs may be made of any length desired, and, coming asthey do closer to the center of the glide, are-much less apt to split the wood of the furniture than when formed on the outer edge of the glide. Furthermore, these teeth can be made of comparatively small size as they perform no function other than to prevent the glide from turning or twisting after being secured to the furniture, the central nail permitting the glide to be much more easily secured in place than in vEthose instances where the prongs are usedi as the attaching means. It

might also be added that the spanner-washer in the finished article materially reinforces the outer shell and assists in preventing the latter from being cracked or broken by the hammer or other tool used in securing the glide in place, particularly in the cheaper forms of articles wherein the cup or outer shell is made of comparatively thin stock.

'W'hat I claim is: y

In a furniture caster, the combination with an outer shell of curved form in crosssection and having an inwardly turned locking edge, of a corrugated spanner washer located withinsaid shell and having means for securing the caster to an article of furniture; said spanner washer being of a diameter such that it may pass within the inwardly turned edge aforesaid and enter said shell, and the periphery thereof being forced beneath said locking edge by flattening the corrugations of said washer.

Signed at W'aterville, in the county of New Haven and'State of Connecticut, this 2nd day of November, A. D. 1911.

CHRISTIAN F. LAUN. Witnesses: JAS. E. OAVANAGH', PHILIP H. WENDEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. i 

